Internal Analysis

Question 1

29. what is inside the firm?

Answer 1

core competencies
resources
capabilities

they are key to competitive advantage creation & sustainability

Question 2

29. Core Competencies

Answer 2

allow firm’s ability to gain & sustain competitive advantage by differentitating its products & services from rival, creating higher value for the customer & offering products ate lower costs

they are unique strengths embedded deep within the firm

must be constantly nourished

Question 3

29. resources

Answer 3

any asset that a firm can draw on when formulating or implementing a strategy

tang or intang

reinforces core competencies

Question 4

29. capabilities

Answer 4

organizational & managerial skills necessary to deploy a diverse set of resources

intang

orchestrate core competencies

Question 5

29. activities

Answer 5

distinct & fine-grained business processes that enable firms to add incremental value by transforming inputs into goods & services

core competencies leverage activities

Question 6

29. RBV (resource-based view) - key assumptions

Answer 6

1. resource heterogeneity
   bundles of resources capabilities & competencies differ across firms
2. resource immobility
   resources do not move easily from firm to firm “stickiness”

Question 7

29. types of resources

Answer 7

• physical
• human resources (recruiting skills, employer s experience)
• intellectual property (patents, trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets)
• organizational/ intangible (corporate culture, idiosyncratic to firms & very hard to imitate, brand loyalty)

Question 8

29. VRIO Framework

Answer 8

is the resource/cap/compe …

1. valuable? - no - competitive disadvantage
2. rare? - no - competitive parity
3. Imitation costly? - no - temporary competitive advantage
4. Organized to capture value? - no - temporary competitive advantage

YES to all: sustainable competitive advantage

Question 9

29. How to sustain competitive advantage?

Answer 9

1. better expectations of future resource valu
2. intellectual property protection
3. social complexity
4. causal ambiguity
5. path dependence (decisions made in past limit options one faces - time compression diseconomies)

Question 10

29. Value chain

Answer 10

primary activities & support activities

• the internal activities a firm engages in when transformings inputs into outputs
• each activity adds incremental value & incremental costs

Question 11

29. strategic activity systems

Answer 11

• firm as a network of interconnected activities that can be the foundation of its competitive advantage
• hard to imitate
• evolve over time if a firm is to sustain competitive adv
• in response to changing environment firms need to upgrade value-creating activities & adopt their activity system

Question 12

29. SWOT analysis

Answer 12

understand what to get out ot each combination of pairs.